Ninety-two isn't any ordinary number; it is associated with "royalty". How does that work out? It represents the number of solutions to which 8 queens can be placed on a 8 × 8 chessboard such that no two queens can attack each other. If you are familiar with the rules of English Chess, then it shouldn't take you long to figure out that any feasible solution would only arise if no two queens are positioned in the same row, column or diagonal. A possible answer is depicted here:

For those who are interested in learning more about the strategy involved in cracking this conundrum, Wolfram MathWorld has a rather comprehensive page addressing THIS.

92 is also the atomic number of uranium, and an Erdős–Woods number. Say the latter again?

(Credits to PlanetMath.org for the above definition)

Before we begin things proper, let's admire the beauty of the Snub dodecahedron, an Archimedean solid comprising 92 faces, of which 80 are triangular and 12 are pentagonal:

"Surprisingly, the fifth powers of the integers may end in one of only 15 2-digit numbers. This property provides an elementary way of proving that in any solution of x⁵ + y⁵ = z⁵ in integers, one of x, y, z is divisible by 5,confirming a more general theorem of Sophie Germain in this case."

On a more serious note, Peter Rowlett writes about seeking a decent explanation as to why surds are being featured within the GCSE syllabus. In Surds, What Are They Good For? ,he also highlights interesting snippets of his exchanges with other educators on Twitter. In his afterthoughts, he says:

"People seem to like this. Overtly, it's about an attemptto discover why surds are a valuable addition to the secondary school curriculum and particularly anyone uses it outside of education. Beyond this, there are some issues touched upon about utility in education generally."

"Tim Gowers' call for 'real world problems' which offer natural and accessible scope for application of school-level mathematics. There appears to be a genuine window of opportunity to influence UK maths education and Gowers appears to be in a good position to make it happen."

Lastly, in view of the fact the 2012 Singapore H2 Maths A level examinations are literally just round the corner next week (on the 7th and 9th of November) , I have penned a personal piece concerning Question Spotting Thoughts to assist students in their preparations.

This therefore concludes the current Carnival of Mathematics. I shall pass the baton to Tosin who will be hosting the 93th edition at X In Vogue.

Peace.

(PS: I would like to accord a sincere thank-you to Katie Steckles for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this blossoming math blogging community. )